Leonidas Kokkas
Silver medal, July 27, 1996, Leonidas Kokas cat. 91kg. Atlanta 1996
In October 1995, Leonidas Kokas had undergone a serious back surgery, and it was only natural that he too had some anxiety before his competition in Atlanta, despite the assurances of his coach Christos Iakovou that everything would be fine. The gold medal was decided by the snatch competition, when Aleksey Petrov of Russia achieved a new world record of 187.5 kg and a difference of ten kilograms to Bulut of Turkey and 12.5 kg to Koka and Caruso (Germany). It was now clear that the fight for the other two places on the podium would be fought out. The Greek champion had the advantage and Iacovou took full advantage of it with his tactics. He was lighter than his two opponents in terms of body weight and that was what really mattered. If he lifted 175 kg on the clean and jerk in his last attempt, he would get the silver medal, if he did not, he would only finish fifth.
Iacovou said to him, “If you lose weight, I’ll kill you…” and Kokas went to the apparatus with soul. He lifted the barbell, managed a total of 390 kg and the silver medal went to Greece. Exactly the same 390 kg were lifted by Caruso and Bulut, the latter taking fourth place as he had the heaviest weight of all. The ranking Petrov (Russia) 402.5 Kokas (Greece) 390 Caruso (Germany) 390 Bulut (Turkey) 390 Alekseev (Russia) 387.5 Hernandez (Cuba) 382.5 Chumak (Ukraine) 380 Bratoychev (Bulgaria) 380
They said..
“I took revenge for the lost medals of Tzelilis (4th place) and Mitros (4th place). Now our room has a gold and a silver medal (he was staying with Pyrros Dimas). During the last attempt at the clean and jerk, many pictures went through my mind, but I kept the one that showed me on the winner’s podium. For me, a dream came true. I knew I could do it, but I also knew that nothing would be easy. We have the best federation in the world. I went through a lot to get here, but now everything is different. Everything for Greece, everything for the homeland.”
July 27, 1996
